CSKA Moscow had a near-perfect 2018-19 season, one that will long be remembered. CSKA entered the season with its solid core of superstars - led by Nando De Colo, Will Clyburn, Sergio Rodriguez, Cory Higgins and Kyle Hines returning and management added the right players to the mix in Daniel Hackett, Alec Peters and Joel Bolomboy. Coach Dimitris Itoudis guided CSKA to victories in each of its first eight opening regular season games and even though it struggled a bit midway through the phase, the Russian powerhouse finished in style with 11 wins in its final 12 showdowns to rank second with a 24-6 record. It had the home-court advantage in its playoffs series against KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz and despite losing Game 2 at home - its first playoff home loss since 2008, De Colo led CSKA to back-to-back road wins in Vitoria-Gasteiz to take the team to the Final Four. Clyburn was chosen to the All-EuroLeague First Team and De Colo earned All-EuroLeague Second Team honors. CSKA downed Madrid in the semifinals, 95-90, behind 23 points each from Rodriguez and De Colo, and went on to defeat Anadolu Efes in the championship game, 83-91, as Clyburn was chosen as the Final Four MVP. It was CSKA's eighth EuroLeague title and its second in four years. CSKA completed the season with its eighth consecutive VTB United League title after sweeping cross-town rival Khimki Moscow Region in the finals. A perfect season for the Russian powerhouse!

CSKA Moscow stands tall among the very best clubs in competition history. Founded in 1924, CSKA was the dominant force in the Soviet League with 24 titles between 1945 and 1990. Legendary players wore its colors over the years such as Sergei Belov, Vladimir Tkachenko, Gennadiy Volnov, Vladimir Andreev, Anatoli Myshkin and Sergei Tarakanov in addition to Hall of Fame head coach Alexander Gomelskiy. CSKA and Real Madrid dominated the European Cup in the 1960s and the team remained competitive in the 1970s and through the mid-1980s. CSKA won its first EuroLeague title in 1961 and lifted the trophy again in 1963, 1969 and 1971. The birth of the Russian League gave CSKA a new arena to dominate and it proceeded to win nine consecutive crowns between 1992 and 2000. CSKA returned to the European elite by reaching the EuroLeague Final Four in 1996 and the SuproLeague Final Four in 2001 behind a young Andrei Kirilenko. The club once again became the undisputed force in Russian basketball and Coach Dusan Ivkovic led CSKA to three consecutive Final Fours between 2003 and 2005. Standing out was the 2004-05 season, when team compiled an incredible 60-4 record in all competitions, but did not win the EuroLeague title. That summer, Coach Ettore Messina arrived, and to a team with Theo Papaloukas, J.R. Holden, David Andersen and Marcus Brown, added Matjaz Smodis, Trajan Langdon and David Vanterpool. Massive success followed with four consecutive EuroLeague championship game appearances. In 2006, the team downed two-time defending champion Maccabi Tel Aviv in Prague for its first continental crown in 35 years. CSKA lost to Panathinaikos Athens in 2007, but then celebrated its sixth EuroLeague championship by again beating Maccabi in the 2008 final. A year later, CSKA rallied from 23 down against Panathinaikos, but Ramunas Siskauskas missed a chance for back-to-back crowns when his shot from downtown at the buzzer bounced out. CSKA returned to the Final Four in 2010 and reloaded for the 2011-12 season with Nenad Krstic, Milos Teodosic and Kirilenko – the latter of whom would earn EuroLeague MVP honors that season – only to let a 19-point lead slip in the title game against Olympiacos. In the two seasons that followed, with Messina back on the bench, CSKA got back to the Final Four semis, but lost to eventual champions Olympiacos and Maccabi. Coach Dimitris Itoudis took charge in 2014, which is when 2016 MVP Nando De Colo signed. Together with Teodosic and 2016 Best Defender Kyle Hines, CSKA unleashed the league’s best offense to win its seventh EuroLeague crown in 2016 by beating Fenerbahce Istanbul in overtime in Berlin. The next two seasons predictably resulted in trips to the Final Four, before finishing in disappointment with defeats against Olympiacos and Real Madrid. It all clicked again for CSKA last season, as De Colo, Sergio Rodriguez, Hines and 2019 Final Four MVP Will Clyburn led the team to its eighth continental crown by downing Madrid in the semifinals and Anadolu Efes Istanbul in the championship game. It also claimed its eighth consecutive VTB United League title to complete a brilliant season. Its goal is to repeat these results and, if possible, do even better in 2019-20.